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The indictment in the case against Eskom’s former bosses and service providers, who appeared in Palm Ridge Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday, details how a company and its leaders allegedly bribed to settle a R1.2 billion settlement. , paying bribes at every step. of the way.
Former Eskom bosses, Abram Masango and France Hlakudi, appeared alongside businessmen Antonio José Trindade and Hudson Kgomoeswana at the Palm Ridge Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday on fraud and corruption charges related to R30 million in bribes allegedly paid to guarantee that Tubular Construction Projects (TCP) won an award. R 1.2 billion contract at the Kusile power plant.
The indictment details how Masango, the former Eskom group capital chief, and Hlakudi, the former senior manager of the Eskom group equity division, fraudulently lobbied for TCP to win a R745 million contract, signed in April 2016, to build air-cooled condensers. in Kusile.
The original price was deliberately understated and skyrocketed to R1.2 billion after Eskom approved a modification to the project. Masango and Hlakudi oversaw the contracts in the construction of Kusile.
Trindade of TCP, a director of the company at the time, and Michael Lomas, executive advisor and later president of TCP, allegedly paid Masango and Hlakudi through various channels, including Kgomoeswana’s Babinatlou business services.
Seven companies have been charged in the case, which has been postponed multiple times since the first coming to court in December 2019, including the businesses of Hlakudi, Hlakudi Translation and Interpretation and Bon Service Telekom.
The indictment details how TCP and its bosses Trindade and Lomas, or their subsidiaries, paid the Babinatlou and Hlakudi companies at every step of Eskom’s agreement with TCP.
For example, on October 19, 2016, Abeyla Trading, Trindade’s company, deposited more than 1 million rand into the account of the Hlakudi translation company, one of many deposits of various characters involved in the TCP contract. . The following day, Hlakudi made a cash withdrawal of R2.5 million from his company account, according to the indictment.
Masango’s benefits are less clear, but on October 28, 2015, Abeyla Trading is alleged to have paid R645,000 to Trindade’s bank account. That same day, Trindade transferred the same amount to another account and it was used to purchase a home purchased by the Phushaza Trust, of which Masango is the founder, trustee and beneficiary.
Lomas did not appear in court on Tuesday.
“Michael Lomas, former Chairman of the Board of Tubular Construction, currently lives in the UK and the Investigation Directorate is currently busy with the extradition request,” the NPA Investigation Directorate said in a statement.
When the suspects appeared in court in May, prosecutors said the extradition request had been interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the indictment, Lomas paid more than 1.9 million rand into the accounts of Hlakudi companies.
The case was postponed until February 23, 2021.
“This is so that the defense has the opportunity to consult with their clients, in accordance with the disclosure of the content of the case file,” said the statement from the Investigations Directorate.
The defendants have indicated that they will plead not guilty to the charges. DM
